Queens Survival Guide

Chemical Attack

Understand The Best Way To Survive The Threats In The Air

In June the Office of Emergency Management conducted tests that drew fake “victims” to Hillcrest High School.

By Liz Goff

A fake bomb filled with a virus was set off in the seats at Shea Stadium earlier this year, turning Shea into a mock disaster area where dozens of City, state and federal first responders rehearsed a “what if” plan.

Operation United Response began with an explosion in the stands at Shea that was meant to simulate a weapon of mass destruction harboring a chemical agent – and test response and communication by the nine agencies.

Within minutes of the mock blast, NYPD, FDNY and City Department of Environmental Protection teams were busy scouring the area, locating and defusing two fake “dirty bombs” hidden in cars in the Shea parking lot.

An attack may not be as obvious as a blast at Shea, however.

What Can I Expect?

According to a 2004 interdepartmental memo from the NYPD to the Office of Emergency Management, attacks against New York could feature any range of explosive or non-destructive attacks that would release chemical agents, such as poison gas, biological agents, such as anthrax, or a dirty bomb, which would release low-level radioactive material into the air.

Though many of these types of attacks are downplayed as being limited to only the immediate affected area, there is the potential for a biological or chemical attack to last longer. Germs spread from one person to another do not disperse as easily as toxic gas does when the wind blows, and some deadly gases can linger and kill for hours.

The USPS wants the public to be aware of possible threats.

The Official Response

Air monitoring stations throughout the city test frequently for things that should not be in the air. Should a red flag come up at one of these sites, it is expected that

Emergency response sources said epidemiologists are monitoring more than 30,000 possible indicators of illnesses each day, including ambulance runs, emergency department visits and pharmacy prescriptions to determine if there are any “clusters or groupings” of disease that could muster concern.

If there are, epidemiologists or “disease detectives” are sent to the location to investigate, the sources said. If the “detectives” were to find anything, Dept. of Health officials would immediately take action to ensure a prompt diagnosis and effective response, the sources said.

What Can I Do?

Authorities said in the event of a major incident, you would be instructed on the best course of action via radio and television. You should also follow these precautions:

Try to stay upwind of the material, if possible.

Seek medical attention as soon as possible, if needed.

If there is an indoor incident, try to get out of the building without passing through the contaminated area. If that is not possible, try to move as far away as possible from the material and the contaminated area and take shelter in-place.

If you are exposed, remove your outer layer of clothing, separate yourself from them, and vigorously wash yourself.

In some cases, after being exposed to the contaminated materials it may be necessary for you to be “decontaminated.” Emergency personnel at area hospitals have been trained to perform decontamination procedures, including the removal of personal items, cleansing of exposed areas of the body, and medical procedures, as necessary.

City health officials said a number of hospitals in Queens have been equipped with decontamination units, and those hospitals conduct “regular” terrorism drills to train staff in “a variety of scenarios.” Hospitals, including Elmhurst Hospital Center and North Shore Medical Center, have stocked antidotes, medications and antibiotic preparations, Department of Health (DOH) officials said.

“We have to keep training,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “You can never have the right script for every emergency. We can’t let our guard down.”

Anthrax In The Mail

Between September and October 2001, terrorists sent a string of letter through the mail containing a strain of Anthrax, an acute infectious disease usually found in animals. During that span, five people died and an additional 22 were infected. There have been a few scares since then, but not any other major outbreaks, though it’s good to know how to identify and handle packages that could contain the disease.

According to the National Centers for Disease Control, people should careful of letters that misspell common words, possess threatening language, are postmarked from a city other than indicated on the return address or have excessive postage.

The telltale sign of an Anthrax-tainted letter is a powdery substance coming through or placed on the outside of the parcel. An infected item could also have oil stains, discoloration and an odor.

If a letter or package exhibits several of these signs, do not open it.

Alert others around you of the situation and isolate the area. Immediately wash your hands and take a full shower at the first appropriate time.

If at work, inform your supervisor. If at home, contact the local authorities and the post office, which will coordinate efforts with the FBI if necessary.

Make a list of anyone who was in the room with the package and anyone who may have come in contact with it. Give the list to the authorities.

If you begin to feel flu-like symptoms, develop a hacking, dry cough, or notice any sores on your body, go to a hospital or doctor immediately and tell them what happened. Anthrax cannot be passed from one person to another, making it unnecessary to quarantine a potentially infected individual.

Duct Tape

Versatile Must-Have Could Save Your Life

Duct tape might just save your life.

By Michael Rehak

Having hundreds of uses, duct tape can become a lifesaver in almost any situation.

Whether it’s a fender bender or a major catastrophe, duct tape should never be left off the list of emergency “must haves.”

The great thing about the tightly wrapped wire adhesive is that you don’t have to be MacGyver to put together a simple tool like a drinking cup or be able to fold over a piece and use it for something as crazy as toilet paper - the cool part is you can construct it into either of these if you really needed to.

Its sturdiness to secure and its flexibility to assemble gives duct tape an unparalleled effectiveness. So, whether you are plugging a hole in a leaking roof, temporarily fixing a plumbing problem, sealing windows and doors, making a rope, wrapping an injured ankle or patching clothing, duct tape can come in handy in almost any critical situation.

According to Jim & Tim, the self-appointed Duct Tape Guys at www.octanecreative.com, you can use duct tape and plastic sheeting to create an airtight “safe room” in your dwelling. Their Web site posts the following suggestions:

Tim suggests that an airtight room may get rather stuffy and oxygen deprived after the recommended three-day inhabitance, so he suggests using Bubble Wrap instead of plastic sheeting - when you’re running out of air, you just pop the little bubbles.

If you are going to choose one room of your house to make airtight for three days, Jim suggests the kitchen; “That’s where the food is.”

Tim disagrees. “If you have to hold it for three days you’re gonna be in a world of pain! Make your airtight room the bathroom.”

Or, skip the airtight room altogether and make your own biohazard suit by duct-taping yourself from head to toe. “We suggest that you duct tape over an old suit or a pair of long johns. Do not apply the tape directly to your skin. It’s binding, it pinches, and when you remove it you’ll also be removing every hair on your body - talk about a world of pain!”

Whatever you choose to do, the basic point about having duct tape available is that you have to be creative and may very well need it in case of almost any emergency.

We do not endorse using it, however, for criminal acts or methods that might cause harm.

What If Radiation Gets You?

Experts suggest that you follow these three “general guidelines” to help minimize exposure:

· TIME: Radioactive materials become less radioactive over time. Stay inside until authorities advise that the threat has passed.

· DISTANCE: The greater the distance between you and the source of the radiation, the better, experts said. Authorities may call for the evacuation of people in areas close to the site of release. Heed all warnings.

· SHIELDING: Put as much heavy, dense material between you and the source of the radiation as possible. Authorities may advise you to remain indoors or underground for just this reason. Close and seal windows and doors, and turn off any ventilators.

Nuclear Attack

Officials Set Sights On Dirty Bombs Or Warhead Assaults

By Liz Goff

City Fire Officials said recently they have “top-shelved” plans to handle terrorist attacks involving the use of crude nuclear bombs.

FDNY officials said the department is rapidly transforming itself into a “terrorism-ready force,” equipped to respond to such potentially catastrophic attacks.

Fire officials said they are particularly concerned that terrorists will develop a “crude” nuclear bomb – and detonate it in a skyscraper in lower Manhattan. Such an attack could result in approximately 225,000 casualties, officials said.

Officials said they are also worried that terrorists might combine a radioactive bomb with an incendiary device – and set it off on an upper floor of a high-rise building in Manhattan.

What Can I Expect?

A radiological incendiary device (RID) would explode into an expanding fire that could quickly engulf a building – resulting in a disaster similar to the Sept. 11 attacks, FDNY officials said.

Officials said the department has trained nearly 3,000 firefighters as hazardous materials specialists – and every fire unit is currently outfitted with devices that combat radiation.

“It’s the training we go through, that will make the difference between who gets saved and who doesn’t get saved. If an improvised nuclear device goes off, it will be horrific,” FDNY officials said.

“But we will survive.”

According to a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, there is no clear answer regarding safety in a nuclear attack.

“It’s all subjective,” said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan. “It would depend on the size of the bomb, the materials used to make the device, the amount of radiation, contaminants released by the blast, and local weather conditions.”

Experts compared the “scope” of the fallout with the plumes of dust that rose from the Twin Towers, after the World Trade Center collapsed.

“There is no guideline to determine how far the fallout would spread,” experts said.

“If it was a sunny day with little or no wind, the fallout would be contained to a relatively small area surrounding the building,” they said. If the day was very windy, the materials would spread in the direction of the wind – and if it was raining, they would carry through the atmosphere much more rapidly.

Local authorities would likely confer with federal nuclear agencies to determine the best place to be – and that information would be passed on to people by police and the media.

Depending on weather conditions and the amount of radiation that escaped into the environment, it could take minutes, days or weeks for dispersal of radioactive materials to reach into Queens.

What Can I Do?

The first thing you are going to want to do is to minimize your exposure to the radiation.

Put as much heavy, dense material between you and the source of the radiation as possible. Authorities may advise you to stay indoors or underground for this reason. Close and seal windows and turn off all ventilation.

If you are exposed to the materials, remove your outer layer of clothing, separate yourself from them, and wash yourself.

Keep your distance from the radiation. To New Yorkers, this means “Do not head to Manhattan to check it out.” The greater the distance between you and the source of the radiation, the better. Authorities may call for an evacuation of people from areas close to the release. Do what they say you should do.

Terror Threat Levels

GREEN

Low Risk

Develop a family emergency plan. Share it with family and friends, and practice the plan.

Visit www.Ready.gov for help creating a plan.

Create an “Emergency Supply Kit” for your household.

Be informed. Visit www.Ready.gov or obtain a copy of “Preparing Makes Sense, Get Ready Now” by calling 1-800-BE-READY.

Know how to shelter-in-place and how to turn off utilities (power, gas, and water) to your home.

Examine volunteer opportunities in your community, such as Citizen Corps, Volunteers in Police Service, Neighborhood Watch or others, and donate your time.

Consider completing an American Red Cross first aid or CPR course , or Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) course .

BLUE

Guarded Risk

Complete recommended steps at level green.

Review stored disaster supplies and replace items that are outdated.

Be alert to suspicious activity and report it to proper authorities.

YELLOW

Elevated Risk

Complete recommended steps at levels green and blue.

Ensure disaster supply kit is stocked and ready.

Check telephone numbers in family emergency plan and update as necessary.

Develop alternate routes to/from work or school and practice them.

Continue to be alert for suspicious activity and report it to authorities.

ORANGE

High Risk

Complete recommended steps at lower levels.

Exercise caution when traveling, pay attention to travel advisories.

Review your family emergency plan and make sure all family members know what to do.

Be Patient. Expect some delays, baggage searches and restrictions at public buildings.

Check on neighbors or others that might need assistance in an emergency.

RED

Severe Risk

Complete all recommended actions at lower levels.

Listen to local emergency management officials.

Stay tuned to TV or radio for current information/instructions.

Be prepared to shelter-in-place or evacuate, as instructed.

Expect traffic delays and restrictions.

Provide volunteer services only as requested.

Contact your school/business to determine status of workday.

Invasion

The Day Nazi Terrorists Came To Queens

By STEPHEN McGUIRE

Four men on a mission to strike terror into the heart of New York rode the Long Island Railroad into Jamaica with plans to poison the water supply, blow up the Hellgate Bridge and destroy factories. They could have succeeded, but 21-year-old Queens Coast Guardsman John Cullen spotted them and suspected they were Nazis.

The Tribune spoke to Cullen three years ago at his home in Virginia about the encounter and the dubious terrorist mission.

Coming Ashore

The story began on a beach in Amagansett, Long Island where Cullen was patrolling a beach shortly after midnight June 13, 1942.

Cullen, who grew up in Bayside, was assigned to watch the beach for any “suspicious activity.”

“I was walking down the beach. I saw two guys and I called out to them. They said they were fisherman and their boat ran aground.”

What Cullen didn’t know was that moments earlier the same men – part of a group of four – had landed on the beach after disembarking a Nazi U-Boat situated offshore.

The apparent leader of the group paid Cullen money to forget about seeing them, and as soon as Cullen could he reported what he found. Within hours Guardsmen had located four cases of explosives, German Navy uniforms, and a pack of German cigarettes buried in the sand.

The men alerted their superiors and the Navy, the F.B.I. and the Army. The U.S. Armed Forces were there within the day, Cullen said.

Meanwhile the Nazis blended in and made their way into Jamaica and later Manhattan, where they we caught before pulling off their notorious deeds. They were arrested along with another team of terrorists who came ashore in Florida – part of the mission dubbed “Operation Pastorious” by the Nazis.

What Are The Chances?

Could a similar situation happen in today? Not likely, experts say, but not impossible.

The United States is not without its enemies in the world. From North Korea to Venezuela and even Cuba – after all these years. Though the possibility is highly unlikely, the fears are real.

Venezuela president Hugo Chavez said he is sure the United States is preparing to attack his country, so he may have to attack us first.

North Korea’s Kim Jong Il has developed a nuclear weapons program and now has missiles capable of intercontinental travel. In the hands of a madman, the results could be catastrophic.

Besides the organized states that seek to do us harm, we are also living in a world of religious fanaticism, where offshoots of a religion can take their doctrine to extremes. All one has to do is look at what happened Sept. 11, 2001 to see that happen.

Still, the United States has not had to fend off a sincere invasion by a foreign power in almost 200 years, and that was just Britain trying to get us back after we broke from them 35 years or so earlier.

The Blast That Rocked Queens

This plaque outside the Queens Museum of Art is dedicated to the two detectives killed by a Queens terror attack July 4, 1940.

By STEPHEN McGUIRE

The Nazi terrorists who made their way into Jamaica weren’t the first to find their way into Queens.

Shortly after 3 p.m. on July 4, 1940, an electrician at the British Pavilion of that year’s World’s Fair, held at what is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, discovered a ticking suitcase on the third floor of the building.

The NYPD was called in and members of the department’s Bomb and Forgery Squad arrived at the scene.

Detective Joseph Lynch carefully carried the ticking suitcase out of the building to a grassy area devoid of people on the fairgrounds.

Lynch gingerly opened the suitcase and told his partner, Detective Ferdinand Socha, “This looks like the real goods.”

According to published accounts of the incident, those were Lynch’s last words.

A dynamite bomb planted inside the suitcase exploded, killing Lynch and Socha instantly and severely injuring two other detectives at the scene.

Strands of suitcase fiber and a few screws were all that remained as evidence to trace the bomb’s makers.

In the years that followed, speculation suggested that Nazi Germany – disallowed from participating in the Fair after its invasion of Poland — was behind the bomb attack.

To this day, exactly who made the bomb remains a mystery.

Today, inside Flushing Meadows-Corona Park a small plaque fastened to a stone memorializes the lives lost in the incident.

The plaque is located a few feet from the front entrance of the Queens Museum of Art and reads: “This plaque is dedicated to the memory of detectives Joseph. J. Lynch and Ferdinand A. Socha who were killed in the line of duty while examining a time bomb taken from the British Pavilion of the World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow Park at 4:45 p.m., July 4, 1940.”

Learning From ‘Red Dawn’

‘Red Dawn’ was released in 1984.

By Brian M. Rafferty

In the summer of 1984 I turned 15 years old. Reagan was in the White House, the threat of nuclear war with the “Evil Empire” still lingered overhead and I was going through the types of changes a lot of other 15-year-olds face.

Little did I know that I would see something at the Jackson Theater on 82nd Street in Jackson Heights that would offer me a slice of what life would be like under the Iron Curtain.

“Red Dawn” fever was sweeping the nation. People were freaking out because of the opening scene, and the film was banned or boycotted in small towns across the country.

The opening scene is idyllic. It is the Monday after the local high school football team, the Wolverines, lost the big game. The former star quarterback (Patrick Swayze) drops his kid brother off at school, and the students start the day in normal fashion. But veteran actor Paul Winfield notices something strange out the window as he teaches a history class. If you listen very closely, you can hear jets and explosions far off in the distance.

Paratroopers start falling out of the sky – thousands of them. Winfield walks into the field where they are landing, noting that they’re way off from the military base. The soldiers set up their machine guns, and open fire, killing Winfield and blowing apart the school. Dead kids are seen everywhere.

A handful of kids running for their lives are picked up by Swayze who takes them off into the woods. As night falls, Cuban and Soviet troops working together declare victory.

It turns out that a full-scale Soviet invasion has taken place. Tactical nukes were used to take out the big cities on the coasts, armies have marched up from Mexico and the country has been split in half, Everything east of the Mississippi and west of the Rockies is either destroyed or under Soviet control.

But there is resistance. In the woods, the kids grow up quick. Relative unknowns at the time – Charlie Sheen, C. Thomas Howell, Jennifer Gray and others are led by Swayze and downed Airman Powers Booth to fight a guerilla war against the Soviets, eventually dying in a battle to help liberate the town.

The names of those who died were inscribed upon a rock where they had been hiding out. At the end of the movie you see two teenagers, one reading from the plaque in front of the rock.

“In the early days of World War 3, guerillas - mostly children - placed the names of their lost upon this rock. They fought here alone and gave up their lives, so that this nation should not perish from the earth.”

“Red Dawn” was an inspiring movie for me, and still gives me chills to recall certain scenes. I remember growing up under the threat of nuclear war, and I still shed tears over the losses our country has seen in the last few years. This movie captures the indomitable American spirit that terrorists and other invaders would attempt to break.